Welcome to the blog of the Tasmanian branch of the Children's Book Council of Australia!

Saturday, 6 May 2017

The Sad but Maybe Happy Tale of Bunny & Bettong

An author’s perspective on author/illustrator collaborations

by Anne Morgan

You’ve just written Bunny & Bettong, your first picture book. It’s going to be a
bestseller, you can feel it in your bones. CBCA Picture Book of the Year. International
sales. Translated into every known language. But you need an illustrator, right?

As luck would have it, an Amazing Artist
(AA) lives across the road from your best friend. Her whimsical wildlife images
would be a perfect fit for your story. Better still, you’ve seen AA’s house. The
veranda is falling down. Needs a paint job. Good omens. Bunny & Bettong could provide AA with the financial lifeline
she obviously needs.

So, how should you, the Hopeful Author
(HA) approach AA? After some deliberation, you decide on a courteous invitation,
to be dropped in AA’s letterbox.

HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!

Before dropping
that letter into AA’s letter box, here are some issues to consider.

The ethics of asking an artist to
work for no pay

A virtual mountain of picture book
manuscripts are written in Australia every year. Imagine the mountain. Now
picture a small rocky cairn at the summit. The cairn represents the relative number
of children’s manuscripts that will receive a royalty-based contract in Australia
every year.

Asking AA to provide a dozen or more
illustrations without payment is the moral equivalent of taking your car to a
garage because your brakes need fixing and saying, ‘I can’t afford to pay you
right now, but I’ve just bought a Tatts ticket. If I win I will share my
winnings with you.’

Your text may not be good enough to
attract a publication contract. And major publishers choose their illustrators
from their stable of experienced and award-winning illustrators. AA’s artwork
may not fit their house style. And just because AA can paint doesn’t mean she can
illustrate. Can she storyboard a picture book, finding the right fit for the
text and images? Does she know what a gutter is in a picture book, and how to
avoid it or work around it?

When you submit an unsolicited manuscript
you are asking the publisher to invest thousands of dollars in editing, design,
printing and marketing your creative work. To stay solvent and, better still, turn
a profit in this alarmingly volatile industry, publishers are risk-averse,
preferring to invest in tried and true winners rather than rank outsiders.
That’s not to say a publisher will never contract a newbie author and
illustrator team; but Bunny & Bettong
would have to dazzle the socks off them first, and/or fit an identified
publishing niche.

So, knowing
this, you’re still keen on AA illustrating Bunny
& Bettong. How can you be fair to AA and see your book illustrated by
the artist of your choice? Here’s how.

OFFER
TO PAY AA FOR CONCEPT ILLUSTRATIONS

AA will be far
more willing to collaborate on the story if you offered to pay her for 1-3
concept illustrations. Then you can submit your text and concept illustration/s,
with a recommendation that the publisher consider AA as a possible illustrator.

BUT BEFORE YOU APPROACH AA, CONSIDER

Is your text good enough for publication?

Publishers rarely reveal why they reject a
manuscript; they are far too busy publishing their chosen manuscripts than to
enter into dialogue with disgruntled authors. They might even think Bunny & Bettong is a corker of a
story, but they have just contracted Squirrel
and Potoroo, which deals with similar themes. They probably won’t tell you
that, though.

Do your research.

When was the
last time you read a modern Australian picture book? The CBCA awards are a
great place to start, as are the winners and shortlists of other children’s
book awards. Check out the shortlists over the years. Go to the children’s
section of the State Library. Go to bookstores and read, read, read within this
genre. Support the industry by buying children’s books. Check out the
formatting. Themes and story structures, and how the text interacts with the
pictures.

The Society of Children’s Book Writersand Illustrators (SCBWI) is an international professional organisation for writers and illustrators of children’s
literature. You don’t need to be published to join, just serious about developing
your career. SCBWI also runs peer critique groups and organises industry conferences and
publisher assessment opportunities.

Join
CWILLS

Children’sWriters and Illustrators (CWILLs) is a coffee networking group that generally
meets at the State Cinema restaurant in North Hobart at 5pm on the Third
Tuesday of every month. Contact Gay McKinnon.

Personal Case Studies in Local Author/illustrator
collaborations

Of my ten published
children’s books, eight of the illustrators have been chosen by the publishers.
But I have also had the good fortune of collaborating with three gifted
Tasmanian artists. Here are the circumstances.

The Glow Worm Cave (1999)

This was my
first published picture story, published in 1999. Aboriginal Studies Press had
emailed to say they liked my text and suggested I find an indigenous
illustrator, then submit a fully illustrated concept. I found an indigenous
illustrator who, for reasons beyond her control, eventually pulled out of the
project. I then came across the remarkable artwork of Belinda Kurczok, who was
then only 17. I invited Belinda to supply concept illustrations to the publisher.
Belinda’s illustrations won her a contract with Aboriginal Studies Press, despite
the fact that neither of us are indigenous. The
Glow Worm Cave was shortlisted for the Environmental Children’s Book of the
Year 2000.

The
Smallest Carbon Footprint in the Land & Other Ecotales (2013)

I met Gay
McKinnon at CWILLS some years ago (Book Chooks in those days). Gay impressed me
with her artistic talent and her dedication to developing her new career as a
children’s book creator. At that stage she was still seeking her first publication
contract. David Reiter, publisher at IP Kidz, had expressed interest in my
manuscript of recycled eco fairy tales.After
discussions with David, I asked Gay if she was interested in submitting concept
illustrations. Gay was awarded an illustration contract, and the Ecotales became
a joint winner of the Environment
Children’s Book of the Year (Junior Fiction) in 2014.

The
Moonlight Bird and the Grolken (2016)

IP Kidz offered
me a contract for this picture book in 2014. I recommended Lois Bury, another
talented, but then unpublished CWILLS member. Lois submitted concept
illustrations and was awarded a contract, and the book was published.

THERE
ARE NO HARD AND FAST RULES IN THIS INDUSTRY. SOME PUBLISHERS DO CONSIDER
PICTURE BOOK COLLABORATIONS BETWEEN AUTHORS AND ILLUSTRATORS. BUT BEFORE
APPROACHING AA...

Do your
research and invest in yourself. When your text is as good as it can be, you
can approach AA with a letter of support from a publisher for the manuscript,
and/or an offer to pay for concept illustrations.

What
next?

For information on publishers, agents,
submission letters, and other useful publishing advice, subscribe to the Australian Writers Marketplace online database.

If Bunny
& Bettong doesn’t attract a royalty-paying contract, and you still have
faith in your manuscript, there are other publishing options these days. You
could try a partner publishing deal with a reputable business like LittleSteps.

Another popular option is self-publishing
– but do be fair to your illustrator. Agree on a fair remuneration for AA. Then
draw up a formal memorandum of understanding specifying ownership of copyrights
and financial details of the collaboration. Then draw up your marketing and
distribution plan.

Anne has an adventure a day at Adventure
Bay, Bruny Island. She trained as an English, Drama and biology teacher and has
a PhD in Writing from Edith Cowan University and a Master of Education Degree from
the University of Tasmania. Her children’s books include the Captain Clawbeak
series (Penguin Random House). The Smallest
Carbon Footprint in the Land & other Ecotales, illustrated by Gay
McKinnon, was a joint winner of the Environmental Children’s Book of the Year,
2014. Her most recent picture book is The
Moonlight Bird and the Grolken, illustrated by Lois Bury. Her next title, Francie Fox, is being developed as an
interactive e-book for Virgin Airlines.

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About Me

The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) is a volunteer run, not for profit, organisation that was established in 1945 and is comprised of branches of individual members who are passionate about children's and young adult literature. This is the blog of their Tasmanian branch.